Hailey's Villainous Crackers - Renegade Animation #110
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru discuss Hailey's On It, Villainous, and Royal Crackers.
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, here to present a rather surprising episode of Renegade Animation. Much like last week, we’re spotlighting a few shows targeted at varying demographics. Tune into the podcast to hear our full thoughts on the first 6 episodes of Disney’s Hailey’s On It, Cartoon Network’s Villainous, and Adult Swim’s Royal Crackers.
Hailey’s On It
Disney Television Animation continues their winning streak with a series that has a rock solid premise: Hailey Banks (voiced by Auliʻi Cravalho) must cross off every item on her to-do list in order to save the world! It’s perfect for both serialization and episodic storytelling, since you never know what adventures may lie in each item on that list. The series has a great voice cast, simple, yet effective animation, and a wild sense of humor. I can’t wait to see where things go from here!
“Disney’s new chaotic series has started its bucket list with a good first impression on our heroes having to complete absurd tasks or else the future is doomed.“ -The Animation Guru
Villainous
I wish I could say I loved this one, because I totally understand the appeal! They have a great premise, fun characters designs, and a wild, fast-paced sense of humor. So why didn’t I love it? I guess for me it felt a little too chaotic, too fast-paced for the jokes to really sink in, and to get to know these characters beyond their archetypes. I also think the English dub was surprisingly lackluster, it’s not very well mixed, and generally feels like it can’t keep up with the energy of the original Mexican voice actors. I still overall enjoyed it, but it didn’t live up to the hype.
“On paper, I should really like Villainous, an animated series from Mexico that has caught the internet by storm for a few years now that finally got an official US release on the newly reformed Max. A show about supervillains taking on jobs to stop the intentions of the superheroes or other villains should be fun. It has some very vibrant animation, likable characters, and a fast rollout of jokes. With all that said, the pace is a bit too fast so jokes and character beats don't let you take in the world, the characters, and the humor. Another aspect that doesn't work is the English dub. Unlike a lot of shows, the English-language version of this show is a dub. If you want to get the best enjoyment out of this show, then you will need to watch it in the original Spanish dub with English subtitles, and even then, the characters talk and move at a very energetic pace. It does slow down and let stuff settle from time to time, but it's very few and far between. It also is a bummer that we don't really get to see much of the titular Black Hat, who is the best part of the show. It also has a ton of Cartoon Network cameos, and that's fun and all, until it becomes distracting when the rest of the show isn't holding your attention and investment. It's a solid show, but I wouldn't recommend it over something like Helluva Boss. I know the hype for this show was through the roof due to the shorts that appeared online, but I was not on the same wavelength as other animation fans. If you want to check them out, they aren't very long at 11 mins per episode, but consider myself part of the disappointed squad with this one.“ -The Animation Guru
Royal Crackers
I swear, I was not expecting this to be my favorite of the shows we discussed in this episode! The visual presentation isn't exactly the prettiest, but neither is this dysfunctional family running a bottom of the barrel cracker company. It can be very mean-spirited, but doesn't take things too far that it becomes unwatchable. Darby is the best character of the show, but Theo is a close second. Anyone who either loves, hates, or loves to hate Nu-Metal will get a kick out of jokes at his expense. Imagine Succession, but with a more pathetic family. If that sounds like your jam, I’d recommend checking this out!
“Listen, I won't argue that this animated adult series, Royal Crackers by Jason Ruiz does anything new or revolutionary with its premise of a family trying and failing to keep a famous family cracker company afloat since the patriarch is in a coma (or is he?). It's essentially an animated version of something like Arrested Development in a lot of ways due to the ridiculous level of dysfunction that's on a comical scale. It has an animation and art style that is similar to Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. With all that said, it goes hard with its humor. Throwing jokes and commentary about the rich at you at multiple moments and it for the most part was very funny. Yeah some jokes fall flat and I wish the show didn't have the same rhythm and flow as other adult animated series, but it's way more entertaining than shows like Hoops or Paradise PD. It even has its sweet moments that include the family's son and one guest appearance by the late Gilbert Gottfried. There are even moments where the family is actually enjoying each other's company and the parents are pretty likable. It's refreshing to see a couple in an adult comedy that actually likes each other. For voice actor fans like me, one of the more standout casting choices is the son being voiced by Maile Flanagan, who anime fans would know as the voice of the titular character Naruto. The voice cast is pretty even with non-voice actors and voice actors with Stephanie Sheh and Fred Tatasciore being part of the voice cast as well. The other cast members involve Jason Ruiz himself, Jessica St. Clair, Andrew Santino, and David Gborie. As I said above, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, and I can absolutely see people not gelling with this show at all, but for what it's worth, I prefer this adult comedy over many others that have come out over the past decade. It has enough laughs and fun story beats that make it distinct on Adult Swim. It even has an ongoing mystery about the patriarch that definitely makes me curious about where it's going.” -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! Please visit https://entertainmentcommunityfund.org/ and donate under the designation of Film and Television if you wish to support those that are effected by the 2023 WGA Writers’ Strike!
